It'll be the first new ITV channel in eight years. It's part of a four-year partnership with Sky.

Adam Crozier, ITV's chief executive, previously described the channel as part of a strategy to make ITV the most-watched family of channels in the UK.

"A key part of our strategy is to become the most-watched, most-loved and most-talked-about family of free and pay channels for every household and every advertiser in the UK," he said in a statement.

"ITV's brilliant dramas contributed to a fantastic on-screen performance last year – we had three out of the top five dramas in 2013, which helped us increase our share of viewing on the main channel for the first time in a decade.

"ITV Encore is right in line with our strategy of growing non-advertising revenues while at the same time creating even greater opportunities to showcase new drama."

uSwitch Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under firm reference number 312850. You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA website.